Economic, social & religious developments early years Flashcards
What years was there an influenza epidemic?
1557 1558
How had Elizabeth come to the throne at a difficult time for the English economy?
combinations of bad harvests, mortality rates, high taxation and for many, a significant cut in real wages which caused social instability
What was the effect of high mortality rates?
this reduced the supply of labour
How was central government left with two rather ineffective mechanisms for dealing with social instability after many proposals to Elizabeth were not passed to deal with the issue?
as instructions issued to JPs and royal injunctions effectively acted as an admission of government impotence.
What was the Statute of Artificers 1563?
this was a national attempt to try to sort out the issue of wages and labour
What did the Statute of Artificers 1563 do?
- compulsory labour
- JPs to set maximum wages in every county
What was an issue with the enforcement of the Statute of Artificers 1563?
the government lacked powers as there was on army of bureaucrats to traverse the country investigating wage rates in every district
The problems of ______ and __________ remained widespread in late Tudor England.
poverty
vagabondage
What were 4 reasons for poverty and vagabondage in the late Tudor England
- increase in population
- real wages in Elizabethan England was lower than a century earlier
- Harvest failures (1550s & 90s)
Despite the impact of religious changes, what continued?
offerings by benefactors to their local counties which was traditionally let for the establishment of almshouses for the poor
Before the Reformation, the main responsibility for providing poor relief had lain with the Church. Why was this an issue?
as now the government would have to find alternative forms of relief
In what 2 years in the 1550s were acts made in attempt for poor relief?
1552 and 1555
When was another ineffective Act passed in Elizabeths reign (as in 1552 and 1555) in attempt for poor relief?
1563
It was not until which decade that parliamentary legislation began seriously to get to grips with the problem of poor relief?
1570s
Both Northumberland and Mary had sought to re-stabilise the currency, however it was EIizabeth who was able to do so. What was the scheme announced early in the reign?
a scheme for the withdrawal of debased coins and their replacement by soundly minted coins.
How did Protestant exiles initially view the Queen?
as the “English Deborah” the old Testament heroine who had protected the Israelites from they enemies. By analogy, Elizabeth would protect the godly from the evils of Catholicism
While exiled Protestants first saw the Queen as the “English Deborah” the old Testament heroine who had protected the Israelites from they enemies. By analogy, Elizabeth would protect the godly from the evils of Catholicism, how was she actually?
Elizabeth was somewhat a reluctant “Deborah” and many religious issues were to stem from her unwillingness to fulfil the role allotted to her by her more religiously enthusiastic councillors.
What was the fundamental paradox of Elizabeth’s reign?
Her most enthusiastic supporters often demonstrates a Protestant zeal which ensured their loyalty to the queen but which was wholly at variance with Elizabeth’s own sceptical and sometimes conservative approach to religious matters
Some of the early appointments to bishoprics were of moderates, such as whom as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559?
Parker
Who were the most of the new bishops?
they were returning exiles
While Elizabeth placed many Protestants in bishoprics which could be seen as a conscious strategy to evangelise the Church of England structure- how was this not the case?
Elizabeth still disapproved of clerical marriage, distrusted preaching and ensured the preservation of the musical culture of cathedrals.
The Queen believed the 1559 religious settlement established the Church’s doctrinal position conclusively, how did other Protestants feel?
that the settlement represented the starting point for a process of spiritual renewal- it was from this view that Puritanism emerged
What was the 2 developments which defined the character of the settlement?
- the 1562 publication of An Apology of the Church of England by bishop of Salisbury, Jewel
- Church returning to the old ways abandoned by the Church of Rome centuries ago - 1563 publications of the 39 Articles of Religion.
- Defined a difference between Catholicism and Church of England
What publication in 1562 suggests that the Church of England was merely a position of Catholicism centuries ago which was abandoned by the Church of Rome- suggesting continuity rather than the development of a completely new religion?
An Apology of the Church of England
